Thomas Jefferson, 2 and 1/2 centuries ago wrote that slavery was wrong and that God would not be merciful for America’s actions in that regard (“Notes from Virginia,” paraphrased). Jefferson, like all of our Founding Fathers, wanted America to make every human being free, in time. However, Jefferson did not believe that that the races would be able to live in harmony with one another (in part, because of the injustices already having been inflicted upon black people in America) so his solution was to free the slaves and send them to another part of the world, such as to a nation in Africa.

Almost a century after that, Abraham Lincoln gave his life so that the ideals of this nation, of freedom and self-government for every human being, might survive as a model for this world to emulate. However, before the Civil War began, Lincoln, also, believed that the races could not exist together, and he, also, had weighed the possibility of sending freed slaves back to Africa. Later, Lincoln grew in consciousness beyond thinking in terms of exporting black people from America.

In America, today, we can see that we must, together, show the world how the different races and ethnic groups can live and work together in harmony, as a fulfillment of the American experiment and the American dream. Moreover, our world has become so global, with refugees and jobs moving people of all cultures and races to all parts of the globe, so that time has finally made the people of this Earth understand that we were meant to rise to the consciousness of seeing that ALL people have been created equal by their Creator. We must start to see into the souls, not the skins, of our neighbors, and we must realize that, on the deepest levels, we are all alike in our humanity. We must work that truth through here, and demonstrate to the world, that harmony and even love, can exist among all races and cultures living together in the same nation. Jefferson and Lincoln played their parts in their eras in this ongoing evolution of consciousness, and now we must play ours.